Work In Progress

JOHN Sheridan was pleased with the work-rate of his players during their 4-0 defeat to Premier League Swansea City.

Argyle’s first pre-season game at Home Park saw them up against “the best team we will play this season”, in the words of the manager himself.

Goals from Rory Donnelly, Jordi Amat and a late brace from new signing Gylfi Sigurdsson came as a result of Swans’ expansive brand of football, something which put the Pilgrims’ fitness to the test.

Despite the scoreline, following the game, John declared himself happy with how hard his team worked to keep Garry Monk’s side at bay for long periods of the game.

“It was a tough, tough game,” he said. “Obviously, I am not pleased with the result, but they worked us very hard.

“You can see what a class team Swansea are; they just do the simple things really well, and they do what they did to us today to a lot of Premier League teams. It’s a shame it ended up 4-0.

“We worked hard to stop them playing through the middle of us, because they do move you around, and, other than their goal, I can only remember them having one shot in the first half.

“It was a good test, and it will do our fitness a lot of good, because of how much we were chasing the ball. I thought we started really brightly in the second half, but after the second goal, it was an uphill task, as they just moved the ball and kept it well, but I thought our shape was good.”

The gaffer has urged his Greens to take the positives from the game and come back stronger on at Home Park on Wednesday, against more higher-league opposition in the form of Yeovil Town.

He said: “I have told the lads not to get down about the game, because they are the best team we will play this season.

“We will take things from the game – hopefully we will learn from them. We have got another tough game against Yeovil, but the most important thing is getting a bit of belief.

“You do not want to get beat 4-0 in any game, but I thought it was a very worthwhile game for us, and hopefully it will stand us in good stead for the first game of the season.

“It was a hard day’s work for us, and that is what we wanted from it.”